Power shovel



c H. WOLFE,

POWER SHOVEL.

APPLICATION FILED 'JAN. 23. 1920.

1,405,652. Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

P 5 SHEETS-SHEET I. Y 1

ATTORNEY C. H. WOLFE.

POWER SHOVEL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 23. 1920.

Patentd Feb. 7, 1922.

C. H. WOLFE.

POWER SHOVEL.

APPLlCATlON FILED JAN. 23, 1920.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3- llll H Qm C. H. WOLFE.

POWER SHOVEL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.23,1920. 1 ,4 O5,652, Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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ATTORNEY C. H. WOLFE.

POWER S-HOVEL. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 23, 1920.

1,405,652 4 Patnted Feb.7, 1922.

5 SHEETSSHEET 5.

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ATTORN Y '5 burg vented certain new and useful Im rovements inPower Shovels, of which the' ollow ng 1s this difiiculty.

shovel itself, and meanstherefor.

in which-: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of-my" complete I Fig. 2 is "UNITED STATES Pie-TENT OFFI cyiws 1mm lwonrn, or CHARLOTTE,

NOIi-TH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- FOUR'IH TO L. HEINTZ AND ONE-FOURTH TO CARL M. HEINTZ, BOTH OF I CABARRUS COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA.

POWER SHOVEL.

? T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gratis HARLAN. WOLF a citizen of the United States, residing at Charlotte, i'n the county of Mecklenand State of North Carolina, have ina s'pecification.

. Thlsmvention relates to power shovels,

10 andmore particularly to a shovel-attachment' for tractionengines or tractors.

. Inmy prior Patents No. 798,246, dated August 29, 1905, and 0.:898518, dated Septemberl5, 1908, I have shown and de- .15 scrlbed power shovel devices attached to the front end of a traction engine, or the like, the end adjacent the steering wheels] that is,

and remote from thetraction wheels. Wit

suchfan arrangement, I have found in prac-- 20' tice' that in some instances, the weighthof the load tends to lift the traction wheels off the ground, and thus deprive the machine of its driving power, and it is one of the main ob'ects of the present invention to To this end, I now contemplate mounting the shoveling device at the rear e-d of the traction eng1ne,that is, adjacen the trac- -'tion wheels thereof, so'that the weight or so resistance of the load will b'e borne by such vide an improved arrangement of boom and struts forsupporting, the shovel and operating .meanstherefor,

A-still further object of the invention is to produce an improved construction-of the 45 evices,-the "invention consists in the 0on struction, arrangement and combination of arts herelnafter described and claimed, and illustratedlin the thereof showingtlie as indicated by full overcome the locking and controlling accompanying drawings,

' wheels in any suitable way,

Specification of letters Patent. Pateflted Feb, '7, 1922, Application filed January as, 1920. ,Serial No. 353,500.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a clutch which I'employ, aiid operating mechanism therefor; f

Fig. f is a fragmentary longitudinal sec-- tion through such clutch;

1 Fig. 3 is a side elevatlon of the shoveling shown In the raised position;

' Fig. 3 is a fragmentaryrear elevation of the engine frame showing the means for supporting the shovel ,devicethereon;

ig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section through the upper part of. the shovel supporting and operating mechanism, parts bemg in elevation,

ig. 5 is a fra entary' plan view of th'e parts shown in ig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section substantially to a larger scale than Fig. 1, the shovel being in plan and other parts heing broken away; Fig. 7 is a plan view of theshovel, and boom, parts being broken away; Fig. 8 is a front elevation of and associated Fig: .9 is a the shovel fparts ragmenta'ry, enlarged front' on the line 66 of 4, parts being shown 7 elevation of a portion ofthe supporting bail and shovel locking device; and

Fig. 10 is a transverse, verticalsection through such bail, showing the. locking mechanism in side elevation;

While itwill of course be understood that v my; improved shoveling device can be attached 'to and operated by a traction en.- gine or tractor of any well known type, driven either by steam power or b an, internal combustion engine, I have s own'in the present case, such shoveling device attached to a steam traction engine.

Referring to the drawin engine comprises the usual orizontal boiler 1 supported on-a suitable frame 2 at the .rearend of which is a pair of traction wheels 31 mounted on an axle andat the forward end of which are shown steering wheels 5. It will be noted that the boiler 1' and frame 2 constitute an elongated body in detail such 60 device detached from the en 'ne and drawn with the traction wheels disposed adjacent one end thereof.

The usual engine cylinders are designated at-6,and these are dperatively connected to the crank pelling "power is "applied to the traction shaft 7 by means of which pro-,

the details of has such mechanism being well known and not being illustrated in the drawings.

My improved shoveling device comprises a rigid vertically extending frame and shovel operatin mechanism supported by such frame. is frame preferably comprises a pair of channel beams 8 secured at their lower ends to the side members 2 of the engine frame, at the rear end of such frame, adjacent the traction wheels and strengthened by members 8; Between the upper ends of the beams or struts 8 is rigidly bolted a castin 9 of th Shape shown in Figs. 4 and 6. his casting is provided with a central cylindrical portion 10 in" which is received the u per end of a hollow vertical shaft 13 whic is rigidly clamped in the casting 9 by means of set screws 14. The casting 9 is rovided with a forwardly ex- .tending brac et 11 having an arm 12 projecting laterally therefrom at the end thereof for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

The lower end of the vertical'hollow shaft 13 is supported by a foot-plate 15: secured in a hanger 17, as by means of a U-bolt 16 (see Fig. 3), the hanger 17 being carried by a cross bar 18 supported by the engine frame 2. l

It will be understood that the shaft 13 is fixed and j ournalled thereon at the lower end thereof is a swivel block 19. This block also rests upon the plate 15 and is preferably provided with anti-friction bearings. (not shown).

Pivoted at 20 to the swivel block 19 is a boom 21 which support-s the shovel. This boom as shown in Fig. 7, is provided at its.

pivot end with a journal member 20 and is rigidly secured at its other end to a U- shaped yoke 22. Braces 23 preferably extend from the yoke to the boom to lend rigidity to the structure. Thefree ends of the yoke are pivoted at 24 to the sides of a shovel designated in its entirety by the reference numeral 25. The pivots 24 are so located that the shovel, while nearly bal; anced, hasa tendency to tip downwardly to discharging position, and will in fact swing by gravity to such position unless restrained.

The shovel as shown has a fiat bottom provided with a free edge, and to such edge is preferably secured a reinforcing plate 26.

In order to prevent the bottom of the shovel from sagging, and to render the same more rigid, I have devised the novel con- 'st'ruction forming an important part of the present invention, This consists of a'beam or truss 28 su ported at its ends by posts 27 secured to t e sides of the shovel and a bar 29 secured at its upper end to the beam .28 and at its lower end to the free edge of the, shovel bottom (see Fig. 8). Thisbar- 29 is relatively thin and flat and disposed edgewiae longitudinally of the shovel so asnot trussed construction and comprises a reinforcing member 31spaced from the main member and braced by means of bridgework 32, all as clearly shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

. 33 secured by bolts 34. to the' bail member 30 and attached to this plate by means of a pivot pin 36 is a clevis 35. An adjustable brace arm 37 is secured'to the boom Y21 and projects forwardly so that its free end is inposition to engage the plate 33 in certain positions of the shovel, as for example in Fig. 1, and limit the angular movement of the bail 30 relative to the boom. p 1 N When in operation the shovel is locked ",1 rigidly to the bail 30 by means of at curved arm 38 secured to therear edge of the shovel at 39 and extending through an opening 41 in-a bracket 42 also supported by the bolts 34 (see Fig. 10). In the upper edge of the free end of the arm 38 is formed a notch40 (Fig. 10), and adaptedto engage this notch is a latch 43 pivoted at 44 to the bracket 42 and having a keeper 45 to hold it-in position. The free end of this latch preferably carries a clevis 46 to which is attached a line 47 passing over asuitable pulley 48 mounted on the bail and extending back to the opera tors position on the engine platform as clearly shown in Fig. 1. Referring again to Fig. 10 it will be particularly noted that the notch 40 is wider than the thickness of the latch 43. The result of this is that a slight" play or angular displacement ofthe shovel with respect to the bail 30 is permitted, even when the latch is in locking position in the notch 40.

A strut 49, preferably in the form of an I-beam is also supported at 50 by the swivel block 19 and is secured at its upper end between a pair of short horizontal beams 51 (see Fig. 2). The forward ends of these beams are somewhat spread apart and are rigidly secured to a semicircular worm.

Wheel or rack 52 at opposite sides of the center thereof. The beams 51 are further braced by a cross-bar 53 and by brace rods 54 extending to' the worm gear 52.,

The gear wheel 52 is journalled on the up,

per end of the hollow shaft 13, preferably by means of antifriction bearings 55, and is secured in position by a suitable cap 56.

Arranged to mesh with the worm wheel 80 At the center of the bail is located a plate '52 is a worm 57, mounted on a/ shaft 58 sup- .ported in bearings 59 and 60. The bearing 59 is mounted on guideways so as to be calink 63 pivoted at its other end at 64 to one arm of a double bell-crank lever 65, journalled at 66 in a supporting bracket 67. The

other arm of the lever is pivoted at 68 to a' member 69 having atone end a hook 70 in which is engaged one end of ahelical spring 71. The other end of this spring is secured to an I-bolt 72 carried by the yoke 73 secured to the casting 9 and beams 8 by means of bolts 7 3*, as shown in Fig. 6.

A rod 74 isalso connected to the .bolt 68.

and extends through an openlngin the yoke 73, through which opening the rod is free to slide. The end 75 of the rod which projects inside of the yoke 73 is screw-threaded and carries an adjustable nut 76. It will be seen that this nut 76 will engage the insideof the yoke and 'thus limit the expanding movement of the spring 71 and associated arts.

A b0lt68 also passes through the members 69 and 74 and on this bolt is carried a link 77 to which the end'of the "cable 78 is secured.-

This cable which is employed for raising the shovel, as hereinafter described. may be operated in various ways without departing from the spirit of my invention. For example it may be wound upon a drum driven from the engine shaft, or operated in any other suitable'way. In the present embodiment of the invention, however, in which I have illustrated'a steam traction eng1ne,'I

have also shown a steam power cylinder for actuating the hoisting cable.

This power cylinder is designated by 84 and is mounted between a pair'of inclined beams 79 secured at their upper ends to the beams 8 and at their lower ends to a saddle 50.

80. This saddle consists of a pair of spaced side plates and, as shown in Fig. '1, 1s secured to the boiler by means of a girth rod '81. It is also anchored to theusual'steam dome forming part of the boiler, by means of tie rods 82.- A brace 83 also preferably extends from each beam 79 to the enginecylinders 6.

Within the power cylinder 84 works a suitable piston having a piston rod 85 carrying at its free end a bracket in which a pulley 86 is journalled. A second pulley 87 is 'journalled on a shaft 88 supportedby hangers 89 (see Figs. 4 and 6) and capable.

of adjustment toward and from the shaft 13 by means of I-bolts 90 having nuts 91. As

shown in Fig.4 the shaft 13 is cutaway adjacent the pulley 87 as indicated at 13 and this pulley is so adjusted that its periphery is disposed ap roximately at the center of the.hollowsha t 13. v i

Mounted on a shaft 93 supported by a yoke 94, carried on the beams 51 is a pulley 92, the periphery of which is disposed immediately above the center of the hollow shaft 13,-and in a vertical line with the periphery of pullev 87. A fourth pulley 95 is mounted on a shaft 96 carried by the beams 51 as clearly shown in Figs. .1 and 3. The cable 78 is attached, as above stated,

at one end to the lever 65 and bolt rod 7 4.

It is then led around the pulley 86 and from thence it passes around pulley 87 up through the hollow shaft 13 to and around :pulley 9,2, thenceover pulley 95 to the shovel, where it-is secured to thevclevis 35.

Steam is supplied to the power cylinder 84 by means of a pipe 97 controlled by a valve 98 operated by means of a rod 99-from a handle 100 pivoted within reach of the operator. f I

Mounted at the end of shaft 58 (see Fig. 5) is a sprocket wheel 101 and around this wheel passes a sprocket chain 102,-which chain also engages a sprocket wheel 103 (see 105 tends to normally support the clutch members. The clutch is thrown intoen-' gagement by means of a collar 109 having a pin 110 working in a groove in the clutch member 107 andprovided with a lever arm one end to the lever arm 111,and, after passing around a pulley 113 to changeits directlon, is secured at the other end to a pivoted pedal 114 preferably mounted on the engine platform.

The operation of the machine will be apparent. When it is desired to fill the shovel with the parts in the position shown in Fig.

1 the traction engme is simply reversed and caused to back up slowly thus forcing the shovel into the ground or othermaterial to be excavated. The brace 37 prevents the free end of the shoyel from tilting up during the fillingoperation. If, owing to the nature of the ground or material, the

shovel should fail to fill properly, a very slight tension is applied to cable 78, by admittinga small quantity of steam to the cylinder 84. This shghtlift on the cable tends to tip the nose of the shovel downwardly and cause it to bite into the material. This slight tipping action is possible by virtue of the play or lost motion due to the fact that the notch- 40 (Fig. 10) is wider than thelatch 43.

105 111. A chain or the like 112 is secured at i the shaft 13.

When the shovel has been properly filled with material the movement'of the engine over the ground is stopped, and steam admitted to the power cylinder 84. This results in retracting the pulley 86 and thus causing the cable to raise the shovel into the position shown inFig. .3. If requiredithe engine may now be caused to run backwardly or forwardly to any point where it is desired to deposit the load. The shovel may then be dumped by a. pull on the line 47 which releases-the latch andpermits the shovel to tip forwardly about its pivots 24 into dumping position.

If it is desired, as is usually the case, to discharge the material at one side or the other of the engine the shovel and its supporting mechanism" may be swung-around the shaft 13 as a center, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. This is accomplished b means of the clutch and sprocket wheels above described. The operator places his foot upon the pedal 114 thus forcing the clutch members into engagement. 1f then the crank shaft is operated in one direction or the other, the transmission gear being of course disconnected from the traction wheels, the worm 57 will be driven and will rotate the worm wheel 52, the beams 51 and associated. parts around the axis of said worm wheel 52, which axis, as above stated,7is At the same time the boom 21 can 'ng the shovel will swing, with the bloc 19\ around the lower end of the shaft 13. Thusfthe boom 01' supporting mecha nism, and the cable or hoisting mechanism both swing with the shovel arounda common vertical axis. I

It will be observed that the weight of the} load is carried by the engine frame adjacent the traction wheels. By virtue-of th-is arrangement the I heavier the load or the greater the resistance encountered by the shovel, the more firmly will the traction wheels be caused to enga the ground. Moreover it will be noted that the point or support of the shovel and the center'ofgravity of the traction engine'lieon opposite sides of the axis of the traction wheels. With this arrangement it is obvious that the weight of the boiler and other engine parts on one side of the axis of the tractionwheels will tend to :couhterbalance the load on the.-

.shovel, acting at the other 'side of the/axis of the traction wheels. In this way all danger of the load causing the engine to tip or overturn 'ispractically eliminated. It will be further observed that the worm and worm wheel serve to lock the shovel in any position to which it may be swung, thus avoiding the necessity for any brake drums or the like.

It would be obviously impractical for the worm and worm wheel to remain in engagement during the filling operation of the shovelas there is likely to be angular displacement of the shovel relative to the engine frame while it is being forced into the material. 'It is therefore necessary that the,

worm remain out of gear with the worm Wheel, as in my prior Patent No. 898,618 at all times except when the "load is actually being hoisted. To this end the hoisting ca ble is connected with the slidable bearing 59,

carrying the worm shaft, in the mariner de- L scribed, so that when the strain comes upon the cable the worm will be forced into engagement, with the worm wheel, the spring 71 yielding to permit such movement.

Obviously, however, it would be impracticahto permit the full strain caused by the weight of the load to be carried by the gear teeth, and for this reason the bolt rod 74 is employed. It will be understood that the nut 76 on this bolt rod is so adjusted that it engages the yoke 73 just as the worm and worm wheel come into full mesh. The

weightof the load is then carried by the bolt rod 74 and yoke 73, thus relieving the gears of excessive strain. By adjusting nut 76 the gears can be caused to properly mesh at all times regardless of wear or slight errors in the size or assembling of the parts. In

my former patent above referred to no provision for adjustment of the means for protecting the gears from strain was made, and I have found inpractice that it is of utmost importance to arrange for such adjustment. What I claim is:

l. The combination with a tractor having traction means at one end and supporting meansat the other, the center of gravity of the tractor being between the traction and supporting means, of a. shovel having a rigid non-extensible boom pivotally attached tothe tractor adjacent the traction material to be. excavated by the bodily movement of the tractor, driven by said traction means,;and means for nio'vingfthe boom on its pivot to raise .and lower the shovel, said shovel being located'on the opposite side of said traction means from the body of the tractor, whereby the load on the shovel serves to shift the center'ofgravity of the combined loadand-tractor nearer. the trac shovel and for forcing it into the material to be excavated by the bodily travel of the tractor over the surface onwhich it rests, the point of'attachment of the boom being adjacent the traction wheels, and the boom' ,in a direction awayfrom theextendin body of,t e tractor, whereby the axis of. the

105 means, and constructed to be forced into the v traction wheels lies between the body of the tractor and'the shovel. and whereby the load on the shovel tends to increase the weight on the traction wheels.

3. The combination with a tractor frame having side sills. of a pair of upwardly extending struts secured at'their lower ends to said side. sills, a vertical shaft supported at its lower end by said sills and at itsupper end by said struts, a rigid frame journaled on said shaft. shovel hoisting gear carried by said frame, and a shovel connectedwith said gear and having a boom with its end pivoted at a fixed point on said frame adjacent the base of said shaft.

4. The combination with a tractor having traction wheels, of a shovel having a boom with its end pivotally supported at a fixed 'point on the tractor for propulsion thereby and power means carried by the tractor for raising the shovel, the said power means and the pivotal point of the boom lying on opposite sides of the axis of the traction wheels, whereby the traction increases upon loading the shovel. V

5. In a power shovel, the combination with a support, of a swinging frame and shovel mounted to oscillate freely about a common vertical axis, gear wheels for turning said frame about such axis when desired, said gear wheels being normally out of mesh, means for raising said shovel and simultaneously moving said gear wheels into mesh, and an adjustable stop for limiting such movement so as to protect said gear wheels from excessive strain.

6. The combination with a tractor having an elongated body, and provided with steering wheels at one end and traction wheels adjacent the other end, ofa shovel having a rigid non-extensible boom pivotally at tached to the tractor for propulsion thereby, means for raising and lowering the shovel and for causing itto be forced into the material to be excavated by power applied to the traction wheels, the point of attachment of the shovel boom being at the extreme end of the tractor beyond the axis of the traction wheels, whereby the load on the shovel serves to increase the weight applied to such wheels.

7. The combination with a steam tractor having a horizontal boiler and the usual steam donie, of a shoveling device attached to the tractor, a power cylinder for operating said shoveling device, and means for anchoring said power cylinder directly to said steam dome.

8. The combination with a steam tractor having a horizontal boiler and the usual steam dome, of a shoveling device attached to the tractor, a power cylinder for operating said shoveling device, a saddle on which said power cylinder is supported, and means for securing said saddle to the boiler and. steam dome.

9. In a shoveling device, the combination with'a shovel, of a boom on which the shovel is pivotally supported, a hoisting bail piv oted to the shovel, means for locking the bail relative to the shovel, and a brace carried by said boom and adapted to engage the locked bail to limit the movement of the shovel relative to the boom.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CYRUS HARLAN WOLFE. 

